86 Cyperacecz. [Cladium. 



Var. /3, chinensis. Clarke. R. laxa, Thw. Enum. 352 (non Vahl). 

 C. P. 677. 



Spikelets longer, beak short or long. 



Grassy places in the montane zone, alt. 4-6000 ft. ; common. Var. (3 

 in the moist low country; common. Fl. Aug., Sept., Dec. 



Throughout the warm regions of the world. 



The much larger spikelets of var. 6 look very different, but I can find 

 no other distinguishing character. The beak of the nut varies greatly in 

 both, and is sometimes even larger than the nut. 



14. CLADIUM, P. Br. 



Tall, usually stout sedges ; rootstock creeping, with stout 



root-fibres; stem leafy throughout, or towards the base only; 



1. various ; spikelets small, variously panicled, often clustered 



in sheaths at the angles of zigzag branches ; glumes few, 



imbricate all round the rhachilla, coriaceous, lower 1-3 empty, 



then 1-3 fig., terminal empty ; hypogynous bristles 6; stam. 3, 



anth. long, narrow ; style slender, deciduous, base dilated, 



stigmas 3 ; nut obovoid or oblong, trigonous, beaked, crowned 



with the greatly enlarged style-base. — Sp. 28 ; 5 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Nut with a long subulate beak 1. C. UNDULATUM. 



Nut with a dome-shaped pubescent crown . . 2. C. CRASSUM. 



1. C undulatum, Thw. Enum. 353 (if 

 Lepidosperma zeylanicum, Boeck. in Linnasa, xxxviii. 232. Tricostu- 

 laria zeylanica, Benth. Fl. Austral, vii. 384 (in note). C. P. 3236. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 674. 



Stem 1-3 ft., slender, trigonous, striate, smooth, leafy 

 towards the base only; 1. longer or shorter than the stem, 

 very slender, T V in. broad or less, rigidly coriaceous, narrowed 

 from the sheath to the very slender obtuse tip, margins 

 revolute, scaberulous, midrib broad, flat, sheaths short, coria- 

 ceous, red brown, open, margins scarious ; panicles 4-6 in., 

 terminal, rather narrow, branches zigzag ; spikelets narrow, 

 \ in. long, in clusters of 2 or more in a bracteole at the angles 

 of the branches, i-fld.; glumes 4, 2 lower smaller, ovate, cus- 

 pidate, empty, third much longer, ovate, obtuse, 1 -veined, 

 fourth rather longer than third, with a perfect fl. ; bristles 6, 

 very short; stam. 3, anth. very long, with long acicular tips; 

 nut ^ in. long, broadly obovoid, subtrigonous, beaked by the 

 elongate, conical, broad base of the style, smooth, nearly 

 black, style long, slender, stigmas 3, long. 



Sandy ground near the coast in the moist region; rather common. 

 Colombo; Bentota; Kalutara (Moon); Madampe, near Negombo. Fl. 

 May. 



Also in Malaya and Australia. 



